One month ago, the world gathered for the annual Social Good Summit to hear about the #2030NOW movement and partake in a journey toward a better tomorrow. Miigle's founder, Luc Berlin, and I had the great opportunity to attend this event in NYC to learn and hear from the people and speakers in attendance, including Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, Alec Baldwin, Joyce Banda (former President of Malawi) and last but not least, Chelsea Handler.
The event was filled with quotable moments, breathtaking stats and presentations made by entrepreneurs, policy makers, celebrities, journalists and activists. Personally, I couldn't help but come to the realization that there is a dire need for help in the world. So as the two-day event drew to a close, one question kept creeping up into my mind: So what now? What steps do we (and more specifically I) take now to ensure the dreams of #2030NOW actually come to fruition? How do we keep up the momentum from this event to create large scale changes? What more could we all be doing?
In my quest to find an answer to this question, I began searching for it all around me. I read random blogs that led me down rabbit holes like “12 things to be successful” instead of actionable plans in making the world better. I read about social entrepreneurship and organizations making large scale impact. I read about products that were changing the way we viewed the environment and poverty. I kept looking for action plans for me to latch onto and help. But all of this searching led me to vague and distant opportunities.
And then came a conversation with a friend of mine. She reminded me of a book I read a few years back that literally changed my life. It is called “The Forty Rules of Love" by Elif Shafak. For those who have read it, you will know it is a book hard to describe in a few short words, but it contains many eye-opening lines splattered throughout which make it an inspiring read. With the book brought back to memory, I decided to reread the forty rules and stumbled upon one of the rules that answered my question of “So, what now?”
“The universe is one being. Everything and everyone is interconnected through an invisible web of stories. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all in a silent conversation.”
In case you are wondering, this is a quote from Rule 26, and something about it triggered an emotional reaction within me. Perhaps it was the mentioning of us all being interconnected or the poetic reference of us all being in a silent conversation together. But the more I pondered about this rule, the more I realized that making a change in the world was as easy as changing my own individual behavior.
The opportunities for us to help drive change are endless. Many of them are things we have all heard before. Whether it be recycling, educating ourselves on policies, climate change and global issues, or purchasing an ethically made social good product, there are a series of things that we can do on an individual level. And every small decision we make toward a socially responsible action affects the entire universe. Because as Rumi, the poet, says in the book, "we are all interconnected."
